


Bunker Down

by IcedChaiChibi



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble Sequence, Insomnia Stories, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2018-08-29 11:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8486944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcedChaiChibi/pseuds/IcedChaiChibi
Summary: Musings and Dribbles prompted by some LIS Buddies...What If Chloe's fate in the ending of Episode 4 had been different?...





	1. Additional Passengers

**Author's Note:**

> I am in no way trying to excuse or justify the ill deeds of some of the characters. Please take this with a pinch of salt. Or is it a grain?
> 
> This was made purely for fun or really really sorta spawned as a byproduct of Insomnia.
> 
> Also a muffin and an orange because vitamin C is important and who doesn't like muffins?

The first thing I'm able to register is darkness, not...not normal darkness, It's absolute pitch, something feels off about It, But what? I cannot place.

Then feeling of cold. Everything Is cold, very cold, not enough to suffer hypothermia but the uncomfortable chill nips at my fingertips, nose and ears.

Now the third sensation, is that I am being carried. Out of reflex I try to shift, To move, but nothing. No matter how much I struggle to make the simplest movement or gesture, It's all In vain.

I can feel my pulse increase rapidly as I try to make sense of my current situation and my increasing concern at my total lack of control over any motor functions when suddenly I feel a brief pinch in my shoulder, Which Is followed by a warm sensation that spreads out and over me like a blanket.

With this feeling of warmth comes a sudden wave of sleepiness, I try my best to fight It. As I battle the growing grogginess, I'm dimly aware of being set down into what feels like the plush seat of a car. The soft jingle of keys followed by the rumbling of an engine confirms this.

Suddenly an all too familiar voice speaks up beside me.

"My apologies for the delay, Max...I was not planning on having two additional passengers this evening. I'm not particularly fond of 'winging It'. But It's an amateur mistake, leaving witnesses. Don't worry though, we're right on schedule, despite this hiccup...And I think this will actually work In our favor."

Mercifully sleep finally overtakes me, and Mark Jeffersons voice fades away, replaced instead by a dreamless sleep.


	2. Welcome To The Dark Room

I hadn't always had the best sense of balance, so the amount of time I had to spend simply standing on the train tracks without immediately falling on my face, took a considerable amount of concentration, it was an impressive feat really...that is until I turned my head and saw Chloe walking along the tracks backwards.

A small voice in my head chirped up with a 'Truly I am the single most talented girl of my generation. My best friend might as well be running backwards and I can't even manage to take a step without teetering or tottering over.'

I gaped at Chloe as I hopped off the tracks, instead opting to walking along side them to avoid any further face plants and to not be left behind, I was honestly confused as to how my friend could so effortlessly walk like that.

Birds fleet about from tree to tree and sing and tweet sweetly, apparently unaware of my inner turmoil.

"Chloe, you know that isn't very safe. You're just asking to trip on something. Besides now you're just being a showoff..." She just looked up at me and grinned.

"Relax Dude, Besides, What am I going to trip on? A squirrel?" She spun on her heel and turned back around, crossing over to walk next to me.

I laughed as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder, giving me a brief sidehug.

"I think most of the squirrels are over at BlackWell, Samuel seems to have a knack for attracting them. Like a pied piper but with woodland critters." I say softly and look around trying to spot a stray squirrel, but no, not a bushy tail in sight.

Chloe starts to reply back, making what I think Is a really corny and equally inappropriate joke about squirrels, But now my mind is starting to wander as I search the surrounding forest for other animals.

There are a few birds, much less than before, and even fewer are singing, and all of them I notice are perched seemingly stock still on the various trees.

I almost feel like we're stuck in the movie "The Birds" and at any moment I'll be dive bombed by countless birds of all species, colors, shapes and sizes. Thankfully that never actually happens.

Feeling eyes burning into the back of my head, I whip my head around expecting to see Chloe but she's nowhere near me and in fact is already headed back towards the junkyard, something in the distance seems to have captured her attention for the moment.

"Did Frank return? Surely Chloe would have noticed. Then again neither of us had noticed Frank before until he walked right up to us." I cast an eye over my shoulder at my best friend, but she's still going on her merry way and doesn't seem the least bit concerned.

"You're just being paranoid, considering everything that's happened, that's understandable. But don't give yourself an ulcer worrying about what has already happened, just because you can rewind time doesn't mean fix everything and it certainly doesn't make you some all-seeing being…" I sigh to myself and glance in the direction Chloe had gone.

"Just because you grew up around here, doesn't mean you can find your way back to town, by foot from an unfamiliar place…" I began to jog after Chloe, Thank goodness the vibrant blue that was her hair was not one of the colors that you'd find 'naturally occurring in nature.'

Even so I was lagging seriously behind and as Chloe rounded a corner up ahead, I completely lost sight of her and had to break into a run, worried I'd get hopelessly lost in the few minutes I managed to lose sight of her.

Fortunately for me, Chloe noticed and not far ahead she had stopped to wait for me, she looked incredibly bored, leaning against one of the many old and weathered cars that sat strewn about the land, poor things had seen better days, sadly like a lot of Arcadia Bay.

She cocked her head at me as I approached, the look of annoyance she gave me was now replaced by a look I couldn't quite put a name to, but it looked as if she was trying to decide whether to be confused or amused.

"Sorry for making you wait-" I attempted to apologize but was cut off before I could finish.

"So who's your new friend, Max?" She motioned over my shoulder, "Now we're almost like mystery Inc, Except we're missing two members and our mascot will probably book It any second now…" She kept her gaze focused on the area behind me.

I turned my head nervously, earlier paranoia creeping up again, half expecting to see bigfoot standing there, Instead a doe stared back at me, she was unexpectedly close too, Chloe continued on as the deer continued to look at us, It was a little unnerving to be honest.

"She's been following you for a good distance too. Didn't you notice?..."

"No Chloe, I didn't notice…" I watched as the doe looked back at the pair of us.

Encountering seemingly friendly wildlife wasn't unheard of, with enough human interaction- aka feeding wild animals 'against your better judgement'.

Animals can become significantly more brave and less afraid or timid or cautious of humans.

However that didn't seem to be the case with this doe, as cool as it would be to essentially have a pet deer.

There was something strange about her, the way she kept glancing between us almost gave me the impression that she was following our conversation.

I was probably imagining that part but chloe had been the one to point out our close proximity and it was clear neither of us were imagining that.

"Rachel would like this...she's always liked deer..."

Chloe's comment made me look around and lose my train of thought.

"So she's not a dog person or cat person?" I asked as I tilted my head at her curiously.

"Oh no, no she's a dog and cat person. Just a deer person too." Chloe said and briefly paused before adding "Unlike yours truly she was also a people person. Though..." Chloe smiled at me "I can make exceptions."

"Let me guess, you're...a cat person and dog person and-" I paused a moment to think, out of the corner of my eye I saw the doe retreating towards the trees but not before giving us one final look before disappearing back into the woods.

"You'd probably be a shark person, if that's actually a thing."

Chloe beamed at me, "You think BlackWell would let me keep a shark in their pool?..." Chloe had slid off the car and had begun heading back to where she had parked.

I almost tripped as I joined Chloe, falling in step beside her, my voice came out in a surprisingly high pitched squeak, "Chloe!"

"Chill Max, I'm kidding and besides a shark can't survive in chlorinated water, and what would I feed them?...Nathan Prescott?"

"That's so mean Chloe..."

"Yeah I guess, I-"

"You'd make the shark sick."

Chloe smirked, but didn't say anything, after a moment she just shook her head and linked arms with me.

Before I knew it I was already out of the wilderness and sliding into the passenger seat of Chloe's truck and in moments we were already back on the road, and surprise surprise, It was raining, no crazy tornadoes though thankfully.

I rested my head against the passenger side window, listening as Chloe flipped through the stations, trying to find a station that wasn't either country or pure static, In moments I drift off and everything went dark, everything was quiet and calm and I was at peace.

But then without warning more radio static broke the calm, however It was only for a brief moment before a weather announcement took its place. A severe weather announcement.

Hearing this, I tried to stir, open my eyes or sit up, but I struggled to do so. Something wasn't right, a horrible feeling of dread washed over me as I fought to move, to yell, open my eyes- Anything!...The only noise that escaped was a muffled whimper.

Surely I couldn't have been that exhausted from walking around with Chloe, sure I had been tired as I was not quite used to running around so much, but so tired that I blacked out?

Chloe would've woken me up by now right? Especially if the weather sudden turned so sour.

Something wasn't right...come to think of it the last time I had done this was back before I had moved away...Back when William was still alive.

I can recall one morning at the Price house where I had been 'Dueling' with Chloe's dad for pancakes, specifically for the title of "King or Queen of the Pancake Kingdom."

It had been a very intense battle with equally talented competitors and we were down to the very last pancake. Chloe sat across from me, Joyce was right beside her, both equally amused, Joyce suddenly became very serious as she raised the makeshift flag that her and Chloe had fashioned cleverly out of a spoon and a napkin.

"It's all come down to this, first one to touch their fork to the pancake wins the coveted title." She raised the flag above her head, as William and I cocked back our wrists and adjusted the aim of our forks, "On your mark, get set...Go!"

It was almost like a scene out of the Matrix, except instead of a dude in a suit who's dodging bullets and clones it's two people and a single pancake. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line something went…wrong.

In my enthusiasm I overshot the pancake and instead my fork nailed the edge of the plate that the sweet breakfast goodness was sitting upon and to my absolute horror the pancake flew off the plate and hit William square in the face. The way the flapjack flew through the air before impact was actually kind of majestic.

The short but awkward silence that followed was palpable, my face growing hot with embarrassment and nervousness making my stomach fill with butterflies, equally nervous and embarrassed butterflies.

I put up my hands in would be surrender, glancing from the surprised faces of Chloe and her mother then back to her syrup covered father.

"Oh my gosh- William, I'm so sorry…" a snort from across the table makes me trail off and I look back in Chloe's direction, she's just barely holding in her laughter and Joyce Is now chuckling softly.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm Max, but perhaps you could warn me next time if you've upped your pancake game…I am but a simple novice in these duels…" William said to me as I warily looked up at him, but he simply smiled sweetly back at me and laughed at the serious expression I wore, but like his smile his laugh was genuine and held no ill will or malice not that I thought the man capable of harboring such emotions.

I couldn't help but smile back as the room filled with laughter, It was a warm sound that spread through the room and became infectious. The Prices really were like family, or no- They were family.

Sadly my reminiscing was cut short when I felt familiar pinch in my shoulder, for some reason, following the pinch, my senses and motor functions began to return...with my confusion came relief, the relief won out, though movement was still what I would call tired or sleepy, I was now in a better position to try yet again to assess my current situation.

From what I could tell I was laying on my stomach on a padded surface- maybe a couch it could have been a bed but the cushioned whatever it was underneath me didn't quite feel like any bed I had ever slept on, plus it felt a little cramped...more importantly I felt something binding my feet and wrists together.

Oh shoot.

Oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot...

I forced my eyes open, only to be met but a blurry and very much out of focus image.

squirming around anxiously, I tried to vent my frustations but at the moment my face was essentially planted into the...the couch so all that came out was muffled and sleepy gibberish.

I went to try to turn my head and immediately regretted it as a painfully bright white light hit my eyes- what? Was I staring directly into the sun? As I turned my head away and shut my eyes a soft click sounded from across from me and mercifully the light dimmed considerably.

Briefly I felt a warmth on my shoulders as a pair of hands gripped and pulled, I felt myself being sat up and repositioned, I had reflectively squeezed my eyes shut at the contact but once I felt the hands retreat I cautiously opened my eyes.

While it was still not 20/20, my vision had cleared considerably and with the lights around me notably dimmed down I was able to look around and take in my surroundings. First thing and notably the most alarming thing I notice Is that I'm back in the dark room, however a modification had been made to a portion of the space in that part of it was actually sectioned off into a small but separate room. Complete with a shiny new door and everything.

Chloe and I were just here, how had someone built that in so little time?

A low voice spoke up somewhere behind me that made me jump.

"This must be a bit disorienting for you Max, I'm sorry about the lighting. I was in a bit of a rush when I brought you here, you wouldn't believe how quickly that storm came down on Arcadia. I hadn't had time to move everything before the weather escalated. Under normal conditions those lights can be rather harsh on the eyes."

That voice...

I turned my head to look over my shoulder for the source of the voice and its owner.

Jefferson stood, arms crossed, fiddling with a radio, several paces away from me.

It only took a split second for memories to come rushing back.

Fear and anger and anguish gnawed at me as the scene at the junkyard played itself back in my head like a horror movie I couldn't look away from.

The man I had formerly admired and I'm embarrassed to say, had a crush on, my teacher...had murdered my best friend. And now that same man had the nerve, had the gall to talk to me as though nothing had happened?

And on top of that, how could I forget the fact that for all intents and purposes he had kidnapped me as well.

I watched as his face contorted for a moment in brief horror as one of the stations he passed began to play the chainsmokers song 'selfie', had the situation been different I'd have probably laughed at that.

"For awhile there you had me worried, Max. I was concerned you had, had an adverse reaction to what I had..." Jefferson cut himself short as he turned off the radio and finally turned to face me.

The look of what appeared to be actual, genuine concern on his face caught me off guard, but not enough to stop me from glaring daggers at him. What's the saying? If looks could kill?...

Jefferson fell abruptly silent as his eyes met mine, his brow furrowed as he watched me as if searching my face for something.

"Not quite the doe eyed look I've been expecting..." he hesitated before walking around the couch, then bent down in front of me and tilted his head to look up into my eyes,

"That's quite a scary face you're making, Maxine. Such harsh expressions don't suit you..." he took ahold of my chin and gently turned my head, I shivered as he did so.

What had he been doing while I was out? Soaking his hands in ice water?

"And no retort about the use of your name..."

As he prattled on I glanced down and briefly considered trying to either knee him in the chin or kick him in the groin but he stepped away before I could try either.

However the look on his face quickly made me realize that was probably a good thing.

"The consequences of that would not have been worth it, miss Caufield, Believe me..."

He gave me a humorless smile as he carefully took off the latex gloves he was wearing and tossed them into a nearby trash can before circling back round the couch as grabbing his suit jacket and folded it neatly over one arm.

"I'd love to sit and chat with you Max, but I have other matters to attend to and I still need to keep up some appearance of normality..." He smiled as he turned to leave.

"Because nobody would suspect the art teacher to be a murderer, right?..." My voice comes out horse, But congrats me, you can finally speak.

Mr Jefferson tenses up, stopping in his tracks, tugging on his jacket in the process. He doesn't turn his body but only rotates his head just enough to look back at me, his face is unreadable and that just makes me all the more anxious.

"That, miss Caufield, is a very serious accusation..."

I snap at him, "It's a fact not an accusation! You shot someone and in cold blood, what do you call that?! Self defense?"

By this time he has completely turned around and is stock still, his face has contorted slightly, I can't be sure of what all he does or says is genuine, but the look of confusion and surprise that's crept onto his face definitely looks real.

"What on earth are you referring to, Max? I've never shot anyone and I most certainly-" he's inches from my face before I can react, "Have never murdered anyone."

"Chloe- My best friend! You shot her point blank, she's dead thanks to you!" I plant my foot and try to stand up to ram my head into his nose but my legs refuse to cooperate and he steps back and almost falls on his back as his legs hit the table next to the couch.

Then there's just silence, an awkward uncomfortable...an unsettling silence, it creeps all throughout the room like a fog, the anger is drained from the mans face and is left with a blank stare, I can hear the tick tock of a nearby clock and the rain and wind outside but nothing else, this lasts for a good few minutes before Jefferson blinks and inhales sharply. He runs a hand through his hair and straightens his back, muttering something I can't quite make out.

"Ah yes...Your partner in crime." He nodded calmly. 

"I'm curious what prompted that little outburst."

He cocked his head to the side, much like a dog would. Unlike a dog his gesture was not laughable or cute. 

"Your friend is not deceased. Chloe Price was it?..." He sighs softly and passes the couch and heads to the very back of the bunker. 

I immediately notice a small back room.

That had not been there when Chloe and I had snuck in. 

He produces a key, unlocks the door and enters it, muffled, what I can assume is cursing or complaining comes from the room, followed by several thumps and something rather breakable being knocked over.

"In retrospect I should have mentioned this, if nothing else to save me the trouble of explaining this now..." Jefferson called to me, As he exited the room he had two people in tow. 

How he could manage that was beyond me, I never would have expected this hipster to be that strong, Immediately I recognized the squirming and kicking girl whom Jefferson had over his shoulder to be Chloe, the second person, he was dragging by the collar of his hoodie, was Nathan.

"Chloe?..." Tears formed on my cheeks but I didn't care, she was alive, she was really alive- I don't know how yet but she's alive. I wasn't sure she heard me at first, but all doubt was brushed aside when she looked up at me and froze, no longer fighting against him, Jefferson hefted Chloe off of his shoulder and sat her down against the wall across from me, he plopped Nathan down beside her but the brunette anxiously scooted away into the nearby corner.

Unlike me, Chloe and Nathan had their hands bound behind their backs as well as a peice of duct tape over their mouths, or in Chloe's case several pieces. Upon further inspection there were several more layers of binding around her legs too.

"See? Very unhappy, but very much alive. And you needn't worry, her breathing isn't too restricted, she's very...Spirited. Verbally and otherwise, the excessive force is simply a little insurance."

Jefferson patted me on the shoulder as he made his way to the exit, "Feel free to catch up, though I'm not sure how adequate of a conversation that will be."

"I'd say don't go anywhere but that'd be a little callous."

I listened carefully as Mr Jeffersons footsteps faded away and the door to the bunker opened then rolled shut and locked, I waited for a moment before I tumbled off the couch and scooted over to Chloe and awkwardly hugged her, only letting go when she began to squirm.

I pulled back and looked at Chloe searching for injuries, thankfully I found none, I reached up to the corner of the duct tape and after repeatedly apologizing began the lengthy process of removing it, Chloe letting lose a colorful string of words as I did so until I finally freed the last peice.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" Chloe asked and examined me for a few minutes.

"No I don't think so..." I scooted away from Chloe and over to Nathan, who looked up in alarm, I flinched as I looked him over, he was considerable more black and blue, he tried to scoot away from me as a reached out to remove the tape from his mouth but stilled as I took ahold of the edge of the tape and tried to remove it as gentle as possible, eventually I got it off but his eyes were watering considerably.

"I'm sorry Nathan..." I knew he was a bully and could be a real jerk and I can only imagine all the other things he's done...but for some reason I felt incredibly guilty seeing him in that state.

I awkwardly scooted in between Nathan and Chloe, I didn't feel right leaving Nathan balled up alone in the corner and I wasn't entirely sure he and Chloe wouldn't get in some sort of squabble or fight so better safe and make this a little uncomfortable then sorry and have someone get hurt.

Chloe pulled a face but said nothing about my close proximity to the young Prescott, "So Mad Max, you have a brilliant escape plan yet?..."

"I'm working on that, Chloe...But I...can't do the thing now, at least not for the moment and I don't want to risk trying it and making things worse or having nothing happen or for Ali know I could just erase my existance entirely. There have been people in situations just as bad if it worse than ours and they made it out with their desire to live and strength of willpower alone. We can do that too, I know it." Though wary, Chloe nodded in agreement beside me.

Before the room was plunged into silence, Nathan softly added, "I Hope you can do it, Max..."

Yeah...yeah I hope so too.


	3. courir de la tempête, danser avec la pluie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is an AU, liberties have been taken, please consider inconsistencies as a part of the AU. Excuse my lack of photography knowledge. Sorry this took so long...seriously. This took so long. Not sure if any reads this or still reads this but yeah. Here ya go.

We had all been sitting in that awkward silence for some time. Wondering what to do.

I mean, when is it appropriate to try and escape a kidnapper?

For all I knew, Jefferson could be waiting just outside that locked door, just waiting for us to try and do something. That or lying in wait above us and just idly watching to see when he'd strike. 

Speaking of sight, 

I took a look around the room, paying close attention to any nooks or crannies or corners, trying to spot anything out of place. 

The thought of surveillance had come to mind but obviously there wouldn't be some stereotypical, out in plain view, little cameras hanging down from the corners of the ceiling. 

If there were any then they'd be just like the rest of the high end equipment and gadgets in the storm bunker. Professional and more importantly, inconspicuous. Possibly unseen by an untrained eye. 

Then again...security feeds could be accessed. And the footage would just be more liabilities and it would certainly be proof. Assuming it was indeed archived somehow. 

No. No, I didn't think cameras would work out so well. And as far as I could see, I saw none. 

I glanced over at Nathan briefly before turning my attention to Chloe. 

"Find anything?"

A shake of the head. 

"I know we weren't here too long when we first came here. But what do you think of security?"

Chloe tilted her head for a moment and took a quick glance up at the ceiling. 

"What? Like cameras?"

I nodded, if a little awkwardly. I don't know how long I had been laying on that couch but it had been long enough to give me a cramp. Which made moving my head somewhat painful as a spike of pain or a pinch would flare up whenever I tried to move much. 

Another shake of her head, "No. No I don't think so. He may be doing this one someone else's dime but they'd just be something that could ultimately be incriminating. He's a creep and he's nuts but he's smart."

"I thought so too."

Chloe looked past me at Nathan and gave a nod, "Doesn't hurt to double check though."

Before I could react, Chloe had swung her feet over my lap and pushed off Nathan's knees with her feet, shoving him in the process. 

His head jerked up in alarm and he turned to face us, an annoyed grimace soon replaced the look of surprise than had been plastered on his face from the unexpected shove. 

"What?"

Trying my best to move Chloe off of me, I leaned a little closer to him, 

"Nathan, are there are cameras here? And before you get smug or sarcastic, I mean security type cameras."

Nathan's only response to my question was a glare. 

Chloe huffed beside me and swung her legs back over my lap and proceeded to make like she was going to try and get up. 

"You can spill your guts one way or another, Prescott."

Nathan's bitter expression quickly crumbled into one of fear as some of the color drained from his face. 

He was quick with his reply. 

"N-no. None that I know of. Mr. Jefferson isn't the one footing the bill."

Chloe made a show of considering this and after a moment and a final warning look over at Nathan, settled back down where she sat. Though she hadn't really moved more than a few inches at best.

That'd have to do for now. 

A less than subtle rumble of thunder overhead, jarred me back to our current predicament, I couldn't but but shiver a little as some of the lights began to flicker ever so slightly. 

Spooky. 

"I don't really remember all that much what happened at the moment but did either of you get a look at the storm when we arrived here?" , I made sure to emphasize that storm part to Chloe. 

"Don't know about Nathan, he was still out cold when we got dragged down here. Not like I was much better. From what little I could make out though, there wasn't any wizard of oz level weather going on. Still weird though."

That did alleviate a little of the stress, but only a little. Just because the storm hadn't gotten that bad before didn't mean there wasn't a tornado raging away overheard right now. 

Then again if there was a tornado out there at the moment, Mr. Jefferson wouldn't have left.

Would he?

No Max. Not this again, you're overthinking things. Wait till after you're good and far away from this place. You can overthink and second guess whatever it is then. 

I caught Chloe looking around the room once more, she didn't face me when she spoke but instead continued what she had been doing. 

"Any ideas how to cut our bindings? There's a sad lack of scissors, knives and swords. And unless she can somehow manage to chew through these, which one be a problem, especially for me. I'm out of ideas myself."

That sword comment caught me off guard a little but hey, I guess anythings possible at this point. 

"You'd look pretty sweet with a sword."

A brief if small, smirk passed over her face, "I know."

A moment of silence began, I let it happen. Instead focusing back on my search around the room. Now, it seemed, my vision had finally cleared. For the most part and I was properly able to look at things at the semi distant other end of the room. 

So much equipment here. It probably cost more than I could make in ten years. Computers, those...disturbing paintings on the walls. And of course, all different sorts of photography gear and equipment. Minus the actual cameras themselves. Did he really need so many of them?

Greedy. 

A large black case however, caught my attention. Was there another camera in there or...

Wait. Maybe,

I had seen a couple separate of those cases at least a couple times. I know of at least two I had seen tucked away in Jeffersons desk. During one particularly lengthy conversation he had with Victoria, he had been far more distracted than usual. Though I'm not sure if he had been genuinely interested or if he was just putting on a polite front but secretly zoning out in an attempt to avoid more of Victoria's clearly unwanted and ineffective flirting. 

Either way it gave me a chance to take a quick peek into one of the cases and its contents. 

Along with the camera there had been backup batteries and cards, of course, different sorts of lenses, several filters and finally some assortment of tools. 

Though at the moment one specific one came to mind. 

And if it was actually in there, we might just be one step closer to escaping this awful place.

Now the only problem was going to be reaching it. Getting over to the case certainly wasn't impossible but the uncomfortable and tedious task that would be scooting along the ground like a caterpillar, to reach it...wasn't promising.

There had to be a quicker and less painful way to reach it. Preferably one where I did not eat dirt.

No brilliant ideas came to mind, aside from one but it wasn't brilliant, it was stupid.

"You're sure burning holes into the wall, Max." Chloe nudged me, 

"Huh? Oh. Right, sorry."

I motioned over, as best as I could, to the case at the other side of the room. "I need to get that. I think something inside could help us."

I had to awkwardly drag myself out from between Chloe and Nathan to try and get a better angle to move, though I paused when a realization hit me.

Chloe had been awfully calm considering we were trapped in the same room as Nathan, who, for all we knew was the one mainly responsible for Rachel's murder and tragic passing.

Yet aside from the baiting from a moment ago, Chloe hadn't made any sort of move toward or for Nathan. Sure she was bound up, but that definitely wouldn't stop her from trying to take Nathan's head off.

I'd probably regret asking but I had to before I could move to try to grab some of the contents of the case. It wouldn't do us any good if the moment I turned my back to reach it, Chloe went to attack Nathan and ended up getting herself hurt and in the process we'd all be distracted and things would go very badly, very quickly, if Jefferson showed up in the middle of that.

I'm already regretting this. 

How do I even ask?

"I'm...I'm kind of surprised that Nathan is still in one piece." I couldn't quite look directly at Chloe.

"Yeah well I guess that makes two of us. For now anyway. I'm not wasting my energy on beating him to a pulp, while we're stuck down here." 

Lowering her voice a little, she added "And I can't really say I avenged Rachel if I end up dead along with her...and you."

I could only nod.

"But once we're free, I make no promises."

Ok, ok. Now go and get on with it, Max.

However, I was only able to drag myself out so far before another hinderance stood in my way. 

Why did my legs have to fall asleep now? 

I started to rock back and fourth in an attempt to stop the pins and needles but I only ended up falling over onto my side, where my scream of rage and frustration was muffled by the floor connecting with my face. 

"You ok, Max?"

No. No I was not ok.

I had to flail around a bit in order to roll over and onto my opposite side, so that I could face Chloe. 

"Fine. Should have realized my legs fell asleep."

Chloe lifted her chin to look past me, "If it's any consolation at least your graceful thrashing got you a little closer to reaching that box."

Oh.

That's a case actually but never mind. Progress has been made.

Eventually my, 'graceful thrashing' was enough that I regained the use of my legs and was able to go from wild and random flailing in order to move, to awkwardly rolling and finally managed to reach the other side of the room. Although I did manage to bang my arms in knees to a few things a couple of times. Ouch.

After righting myself against the wall I was finally able to take a look at the case. Thankfully this was not one that was locked, though most of the other equipment were missing, thankfully the tools were mostly still there and I was actually able to find the one I had been looking for. 

A spanner wrench.

"Find what you're looking for?"

I thought for a moment if tossing the little trinket to Chloe would be a way to hasten the process of freeing ourselves along, instead of scooting back her to...but of course, duh, she had no use of her hands and I'd probably only end up accidentally hitting her with it or dramatically imbedding it in the wall like the dorkiest and most unimpressive shuriken.

The first one was more likely.

"Yeah, here's hoping it works." More awkward scooting and I was back over and sitting awkwardly in front of Chloe.

"You sound...less than confident." 

Thanks for the reassurance.

"To be fair I don't sound all that confident to begin with."

"You don't give yourself enough credit. But anyway, what exactly is that? How can I help?" She was tilted her head as if she expected it to do something grand, it however, did not change.

"It's called a spanner wrench, it's used in lens repair and etcetera." I carefully tapped at the sharp and pointed portion of it, "you can pull these out to open the lens and..."

Chloe gave me a deadpan look, 'enough with the lessen, get to the point'.

"Basically these two points at the end might be sharp enough to cut through the tape. Crudely, but I think it can work."

I had to fidget with the tool a little in order to get a proper grip on it, or at least a better one. Not having my hand slip while cutting and severing a major artery would be awesome. 

I reached for Chloe to try and get the tape, but she moved her legs away before I got the chance, 

"Free yourself first."

I opened my mouth to object but Chloe continued,

"No sense in being freed if you end up dead because you went last. Only one of us has super powers, right?"

Obviously she was right.

I was still more concerned about her safety more than mine though.

"I know, I know..."

It was quite awkward, having to essentially fold myself up in order to get a have decent angle to take a jab at removing the tape, but eventually I got it. It took a lot more force than I expected to be able to make any sort of progress through the bindings. Should have expected it though.

"I'm not going to say anything because I'm afraid I'll jinx it."

Speaking of,

"So dumb question, but why did you two have so much more tape? Mr. Jefferson almost had that strip wrapped completely around your head."

Chloe snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Probably because he knows I'd snap these-" she turned to wiggle her hands behind her back, "easier than you would. No offense."

Chloe was pretty strong, definitely stronger than me. It made sense, now that I actually thought about it, that he'd have to use considerably more force to keep her restrained.

"Oh and I almost bit him."

Wait, what?

"How...what?"

Chloe almost looked proud.

"Yeah, before I got tossed in with Nathan, I guess he wasn't really expecting me to come to quite so early. I was so close to biting off one of his fingers too."

Ok ow.

"You stopped by the way",

Crap, right. Focus, Max.

I had to keep my eyes solely on my hands this time, but I could still listen while I worked.

"What did he do?", progress was slow was the silly little thing was actually working, crudely but it was actually working.

"He dropped Nathan. Well, as much as you can drop someone when you're dragging them."

Cool beans.

"The look on his face was priceless."

I'm sure it was.

"I think anyone would make that face if you lunged to bite them...or maybe they'd just piss themselves."

Chloe is scarier than any pixelated jump scare.

"Or both.",

Both is good.

"Remember when kids would have to buddy up for pull ups in gym?"

Resisting the urge to look up, I just nodded.

Funny time to be reminiscing.

"Ok, then humor me."

A sudden weight on my feet made me finally made me stop and look, Chloe had her shoes firmly plants atop mine, rather painfully.

"Sorry, improvising. You know that stupid thing where you had to have someone hold your feet down or whatever so you," Chloe added sarcastically, "so you couldn't cheat?"

Yeah that was a weird rule...who cheats at sit ups away?

...ok no, I did. But that wasn't the point now.

"I remember, so...is that what you're trying to do? With your feet?"

Chloe nodded, "Mhm, though obviously this isn't for pull-ups."

"The tape needs to be more taught, its too lax right now. You'll need to try and keep your feet and straight as possible. It'll suck but you should have an easier time cutting through the tape with the added tension."

Uh...ok.

Turns out it actually was easier and I was able to speed up the process. Chloe was right though, having my feet forcibly straightened was painful.

About halfway through it however, the layer of tape partially snapped. Which was good because I just about had my feet free but the sudden jerk caused me to lose my grip and my hands, still holding the spammer, shot back. The sharp end just barely managed to miss my eye, but just barely, and instead left a gash across my cheek. It wasn't deep but crap that still hurt. 

Instinctively my hands flew up to my cheek and I dropped the little tool, followed by a partially incoherent string of curses. 

I wasn't too big on cursing but this moment called for it.

Chloe had moved closer to take a look at the cut, like I said it wasn't serious. But it sucked none the less.

A little more violently than before I continued working away at the tape, though I was careful to turn my head further away in case my hands slipped again.

Luckily they didn't and after a few tugs the last of the tape split and finally I had my legs free.

A took a moment to take inventory and make sure that I had to other injuries, specifically ones I may have sustained while out cold. But from what I could tell I was mostly unscathed, no broken bones, nothing serious, just a few assorted cuts and scrapes. That and a ache at the back of my head from my clumsy descent.

I also had to take a moment to compose myself, I didn't want my moment of anger at an inanimate object to make me do something sloppy or stupid and accidentally hurt Chloe.

Freeing Chloe had been significantly easily, for one I actually had a basic grasp on what to do and two, she was notably stronger than I was, and halfway through the tape with several hard tugs she actually managed to break the remaining layer without my assistance.

Our hands were a different issue though, not only was it was awkward and difficult getting a proper angle but I had to be a lot more careful. Unlike our legs, there wasn't anything under the tape to act as a sort of layer of protection between the sharp little tool and bare skin, especially since there were quite a few arteries just underneath.

Mercifully there were no casualties, though the way that Chloe ripped off the remaining layers of tape like it was a simple bandaid made me cringe pretty hard.

It took a moment to finally regain proper footing but finally we were both able to get up and were able to walk around normally once again, if a little stiffly.

But now that we were free...there was the matter of Nathan.

I was about to reach out my hand to Chloe, but the look on her face made me pause and retract my hand. Unsure what to do but wanting to give her some space, I hastily walked to the other end of the room and up to Jeffersons desk.

I couldn’t help but take one last look over my shoulder at Chloe and Nathan, before I began to look through everything.

The blank expression on Chloe’s face as she stood stock still and silent, towering over a now cowering Nathan, was just as unsettling as the rest of the place, or no. More so.

‘Focus, Max. You both need to get out of here. You’re not immobile anymore, don’t waste it.’

I would have liked to sweep a hand across his desk and sent all of this expensive equipment crashing to the ground...them stomping it into a billion pieces.

But I couldn’t afford to make any unnecessary noise, and shoving everything, unceremoniously to the ground, would definitely not be quiet.

If Jefferson came back in the middle of that, we might literally be dead.

We’d certainly be screwed.

Instead, I quietly continued to sift through Jefferson’s desk.

Unfortunately, though expectedly, a lot of stuff was gone. His computer, most notably, though monitors remained. Cameras were also absent, no surprise there, some tripods, empty cases and various repair tools were the only remnants.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chloe briefly pass me, she picked up a tripod that had been leaning against the wall the walked back towards Nathan, slinging the tripod over one shoulder like a bat, as she went.

I didn’t bother to continue to track her, I had no idea what she was doing or what was going to happen, but any lingering ideas made me feel a little sick.

Ultimately, I found nothing of importance in the desk. Nothing useful either, unless maybe you planned on trying to use one of the monitors as a makeshift weapon of defense. Ie; blunt force. While they were high quality and seemingly well built, they’d be no use as a shield against bullets.

I went to search the shelves where we had previously seen various binders that had been so eerily marked with names. Though the only ones I recognized were Kate and Rachel.

However, when I was met with a locked cabinet...I couldn’t help but look up at the ceiling, wondering if the universe hated me.

I feebly attempted to open the doors, which pretty much consisted of me trying to pry them open with my bare hands.

Shockingly, that didn’t work.

I half considered flinging one of the monitors, wondering if they’d have enough force to dent the cabinets.

But that and any other thoughts immediately died when an sudden and loud crash sounded behind me, I desperately wanted to turn around to look, but my body refused to let me, instead I dropped down, handing flying up to cover my ears and snapping my eyes shut.

I don’t know what I had been expecting...a shower of bullets? Getting grabbed? Dragged away to who knows what fate? The pinch of yet another needle? That last one made me shiver the most.

‘Max, you can’t freeze up, do something- open your eyes, just do something!’

My muscles remains too tense to allow me to move, the sound of my heart hammering in my ears seemed to muffle everything else, having my hands clamped down so tightly over my ears probably wasn’t helping but try as I might, I couldn’t pry them away.  
But after a moment and with some effort I carefully cracked open an eye, everything was so unfocused. Finally I was able to open both, I had squeezed them so tight when I shut them, it physically hurt.

Eventually out of reflex, I brought my hands to my face, rubbing at my eyes, trying to get rid of any fuzz. Reopening them, finally I got a clear picture of what was across from me.

No drawn guns, no Jefferson.

Just Chloe.

And a now, ghost white Nathan Prescott.

The tripod Chloe had been carrying was now dented into the wall.

Only inches away from Nathan’s head.

Chloe suddenly threw the tripod to the floor, had I not been so focused on the ringing in my ears, the sound would have made me jump or flinch. I noted how the tripod was now slightly bent to one side. Chloe sure did a number on it.

When she moved past me, making a beeline for the other side of the room, I made no move to stop her. Just stepped back and watched her disappear around the corner.

For awhile, all I did was blankly stare in the direction my best friend had gone, obviously I was concerned about her, but I also couldn’t bring myself to approach her.

So I turned and stiffly walked over the Nathan, briefly glancing down at the semi mangled tripod as I went, studying the wall where it had been struck. Tentatively tracing down the scratches down the wall.

Then blankly looking down at Nathan, whom was staring straight ahead, ridged as a board and shaking like a leaf.

Was he in shock? Or...more so than he already was.

It sure looked like it.

It wasn’t until I bent down in his direct line of sight that Nathan’s formerly glassed over eyes, sharpening. Pupils so wide that it was difficult to see his iris.

I don’t know what made me remove the tape from his mouth, but I did, only pausing when he jerked suddenly and tried to scramble farther back. Waiting for him to stop struggling long enough to remove it completely.

Once I was done, I stood and walked back, intent on trying to find something that would be of use to us. No point in rooting through the hipsters desk again, our phones wouldn’t suddenly appear, magically, after the third try.

But that search just brought up more of the same. Though there was a pretty massive speaker tucked away. Along with a random stash of pens...why did he have so many pens? Why did he need so many?

I couldn’t help but mumble to myself, “The pen is mightier than the sword...too bad that’s not literal. It’d be nice to have something to actually defend ourselves with. Though...it’s not like you can kill anyone with a pen.”

Chloe picked that moment to suddenly pop up behind me, “Actually you can.”

She made like she was going to go on to explain the process, so I frantically waved my arms.

“I’m good, thanks.”

She shrugged and circled around beside me, “Find anything? Phones? A conveniently placed gun? Molotov cocktail?”

‘Wait, what?’

“Uh...no. I thought there might be something with the binders, or we could at least take some of them for proof but...they’re locked up.”

Chloe sat back on the edge of the desk and propped up her chin on her palm, looking at the cabinet and then around the room. “A crowbar would be cool right about now...or a katana. I’m not picky.”

That was an awesome mental image.

“Why a katana, though? It’s not exactly the hardiest weapon.”

‘Note to self; learn more about swords.’

“While a pirate with a bat covered in barbwire, would look cool, it’s not the same as a sword. Plus the bat just screams zombie apocalypse.”

She spread her arms wide and motioned dramatically before her, “We can’t hunt for treasure in peace if we had a horde of zombies at our backs.”

True, zombies would definitely be a buzzkill.

“Well, there’s always one try and true methods that seems to work. Sometimes, anyway.”

Before I could even ask what she meant by that, Chloe stepped up to the cabinet doors, and brandished one of the monitors above her head.

‘Crap.’

With one fluid motion, she lifted the defenseless monitor...and slammed it down into the doors, hard.

I thought I’d have a chance to get in a word of warning but was cut off by several more violent swings, each as ear wrenching as the last.

And increasingly forceful.

All I could do was glue my eyes on those bunker doors and anxiously hope that they would not burst open. Again I had to shield my ears, the hammering against the doors was now painful to listen to and I kept flinching each time it connected.

After a minute, the banging stopped, though my ears were still ringing a little. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chloe set down the now destroyed monitor, prompting me to look back over.

Can’t say that I wasn’t a little surprised that she had got the thing open, though it’s not like the cupboard was made out of the same material, the big bunker door was made out of. So...

Still impressed.

As I joined Chloe I half expected to be met with an empty shelf, but that wasn’t the case. Though by the look of it, a few binders from earlier were missing. Or rather, they had been replaced. A couple didn’t have names, but the others did.

Chloe now had one, which was ripped from the shelf and tossed onto the desk, Victoria had one too, I had one as well, so did...Nathan?

As far as I could tell, he was the only boy, here. The others were girls.

By now I shouldn't have been questioning anything, anymore, but...why was Nathan here?

His binder was added to the others on Jefferson’s desk.

Chloe had hers opened, thankfully there were no pictures like there had been with Kate and Rachel, there was, however, a picture I had taken of her, I’m not sure how he got it but I wasted no time in snatching it off the page and tucking it in my pocket.

Victoria’s was also lacking in photographs, though there were some notes jotted down.

While mine had some photos, they were limited to my own pictures. Selfies and all.

Had he been in my room? He couldn’t have right?

No, no.

While male students were able to get in the dorms, though only a few did, not that were able to roam freely, still in the girls dorm after all.

Adults could not manage this.

If I had to guess, Nathan probably had something to do with it.

Warren was an obvious no, Hayden was also a no, despite being part of the vortex club, he was still a nice enough guy, and he definitely had the common sense not to pull that crap.

A few other names flickered by, but either they didn’t hate me enough to bother risking it or I was on neutral ground with them.

By now, Chloe had Rachel’s binder tucked under one arm and was thumbing through another, who’s name I didn’t recognize.

All that was left, was Nathan.

Unfortunately his did have photos. While it wasn’t full, there was still a good handful of pictures. And each made my stomach turn just a little more.

I snapped the binder shut, with a little more force than I intended, which caught Chloe’s attention. I frantically scooped up my photos from my binder, before shutting it as well and fast walked away, I think I was going to be sick.

The new photos, coupled with the ones we had already seen...in a feeble attempt not to get sick, I had scooted myself into a corner and buried my face against my knees, one hand over my mouth, trying to breath out though my nose as calmly as possible.

And for a moment, I just shut down.

Focused on my breathing and only my breathing.

It took, what I guessed had been a couple minutes, but the nauseous feeling faded. Though my anxiety still made my stomach hurt. At least now, I didn’t feel as though I’d lose my lunch.

Finally I uncurled myself from the tense little ball I had made in the corner, and resumed a normal sitting position then began to look through the photos.

I wasn’t sure if any were tampered with, maybe water damage or something else. But they were all fine, perverse as he was, at least Jefferson knew how to handle photographs properly.

As a child, I’d seen many photos ruined, because someone decided to grab it with grubby fingers. A potentially beautiful picture ruined before it could even finish developing.

Chloe plopping down beside me jarred me from those thoughts.

“So mad Max, still have all your pictures?”

She rested her head against my shoulder, continuing. “Any creepy new additions I need to burn?”

I’m not going to probe her why she’s being so casual about this. But that fire comment made me curious. “Unless you have a lighter hidden away somewhere, how would you burn it?”

She shrugged, “My rage burns with the fury of one billion suns. I’m sure I could light up a couple pictures.”

“Well...if anyone could, it’d be you.”, I shook my head, “But no, everything that should be here is here. I still feel like I should burn all of these photos though, they’ve been...tainted by being here. But...”

Chloe slipped out one of the pictures, it was the one I had taken when she gave me William’s camera.

“I get it Max. I get it.”

She paused, handing the photo back and plucking out another picture, “So, what happened here?”

Ah, yeah, that picture was from my chat with Justin.

I awkwardly scuffed at the floor with my foot, “It was an...interesting photographic opportunity.”

Chloe snorted, “I'll bet it was. Poor Trevor.”

I sighed and took the picture back, “To be fair, I rewound. I wasn’t going to leave him writhing around on the pavement.”

I looked at her out of the corner of an eye, “You comfortable, there?”

She briefly snuggled against me and stuck out her tongue with a smirk, “Very.”

I couldn’t help but blush at that.

“Aw, you make a cute tomato.”

Suddenly the floor was very fascinating.

“You think you can rewind?”

Looking through the pictures, I really didn’t have much to choose from. Most of these pictures we recent and only two were selfies. One I had taken awhile ago, back in my room. And the other was the first one I had taken at the beginning of all of this, back in class.

I wish I had that photo that Warren had taken of us, the further back the photo, the more painful the rewind. It was more difficult too.

“Yeah, I think so. But we should probably move, I don’t want to be out in the open like this.”, I stole a glance at Nathan as Chloe and I walked back around the corner and out of direct sight of the doors, briefly wondering if I should retape his mouth but decided against it.

He was quiet at the moment, and should Jefferson come back in the middle of this, a very much alone Nathan Prescott would be the first thing he saw, with us out of sight around the corner, he’d probably hone in on Nathan first. I couldn’t imagine that Nathan would keep silent if that happened, we’d definitely be alerted by that.

Chloe stood guard next to me, the bent tripod slung over one of her shoulders like a bat. Not sure how useful that’d be as a weapon of self defense but it was still comforting having something there.

Focusing in on the photograph was different than before, it took quite a bit more straining than before and the dull ache of an oncoming headache was a bit more painful. I’m not sure why, I blamed the medication I had been forcibly given.

When it finally came into focus, a force came along behind it. Almost making me drop the picture.

At the corners of my vision I could see everything begin to distort, faint echoes of the past and present overlapping with a sudden flash of white, but after the brightness lessened, I was still in the same spot, still looking at the photo.

I was about to stop and refocus but there was another flash, with this one, the light encompassed everything. A bright, white light swallowing up everything around me, the light rushing up my feet and arms, and eventually it reached the photo and I had to clamp my eyes shut. This hurt far too much to keep my eyes open anymore.

‘Please work this time...’

With a jerk the darkness gave way to the smaller and gentler flash of my camera, the rest of the classroom followed suit.

Although I was expecting the now familiar throb of pain in my head that came with rewinding, I wasn’t ready for it. I set down my camera a little harder than intended, I don’t think it was hard enough to damage it or hurt something but it was enough to draw more attention to me.

I didn’t have the chance to see the reactions of my classmates as I buried my face in my now folded arms, eyes shut tight as I tried to rub my temples to ease the pain.

I heard Mr. Jefferson say something but I ignored him as I waited for the last of the ache to fade away.

When he spoke up a second time he wasn’t as quiet and he was much closer.

I forced myself to look up, eyes watering slightly as I fought not to close them again, blinking a few times to clear my vision before looking up at him.

“I’m sorry, can you please repeat that?”

He frowned and shook his head, Victoria said something I didn’t quite catch and I heard Taylor and her giggle.

He repeated himself once again, that same question about Louis Daguerre. When I didn’t immediately respond he just shook his head and redirected his attention to Victoria, who, of course, got the right answer. Again.

Followed by that same, lame jab...again.

As Jefferson continued to walk the room, everyone else was focused back on him. All except Kate. Who was looking at me, concern etched on her face. That look intensified a moment later, one hand briefly covering her mouth before she mouth something.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it out, I opened my mouth to reply only to taste copper. When I brought my hand away from my face, some blood tipped my fingers.

Great, another nosebleed. And...of course that’s what worried Kate.

I quickly wiped it away, glancing to the side and hoped that no one else was looking.

Of course they weren’t. Thankfully.

I turned back to Kate and leaned over as inconspicuously as I could, whispering a soft apology, moments before Mr. Jefferson turned back around and the bell rang.

‘Finally, now just get to the bathroom.’

Just as I gathered up my things and stood up, Kate inched over. She still looked so worried...

‘I’m sorry Kate. You have enough to worry about, you shouldn’t be worrying about me too.’

“Are you alright, Max? You...look a little pale. And your nose...” she carefully held out a few tissues.

She was so sweet.

Smiling weakly, I accepted the tissues, “Yeah, I’m alright. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you or anything. Haven’t really been getting the best sleep lately. Something’s been irritating my nose.”

She didn’t look too convinced though, “Are you sure? Should I get the nurse?”

That- that hurt my heart.

I couldn’t help myself as I reached around and gave Kate a gentle side-hug. For a moment she tensed from the sudden contact, but relaxed after a few moments.

“You’ve got the sweetest heart, Kate. Blackwell doesn’t deserve you.” I paused and released her, adding, “I’m fine, really. I just need to have a peaceful moment away from all the drama.”

She nodded silently.

“I wish there was a...safe space here. No bullies, no drama...”

She smiled sadly as she added, “But this is Blackwell. I’m probably asking too much.”

‘That’s kind of true.’

“Well,” I paused to shoot a quick look to the front of the class, Victoria was Mr. Jefferson were the only ones left, everyone else had streamed out into the hall.

“Maybe we can make a place? Even if it’s just the two of us.” I offered.

Though faintly, her smile deepened. “That would be nice, Max.”

Giving the clock one last side eye, “There’s something I need to take care of, but you can always call me,  Kate. Even if it’s something small or something that might seem silly.”

I gave one of her hands a gentle squeeze, “I’ve got your back.”

‘I just hope that I can keep that promise. I hope that we can all make it through this.’

“Thanks Max. I appreciate it. I’ll text you later?”

I nodded, “Looking forward to it.”

‘Ok now I just need to get to the bathrooms again. Should be simple enough-‘

Biting my tongue, I closed the remaining distance to the front of the classroom.

‘Can I just make a break for it? No, he’d just hold me back longer.’

I wished for a moment that the hipster would be replaced with a bear. Honestly, that’d probably be easier. I’d still be anxious, I mean come on, a wild bear. But knowing what Mr. Jefferson had done...that still made my stomach hurt.

And so I bit my tongue, and repeated the conversation we’ve had, but this time it ended in a small lecture instead of a quote.

I could still picture Victoria’s smug face as I left the room. That had been embarrassing.

I may or may not have rewound once in the hall as I passed Daniel and Logan. I couldn’t do much to stop him, not by myself. He was like twice my size.

But that didn’t stop me front kicking him in the shin.

The brief headache that followed was worth the look on Logan’s face. I think I heard him mumble something about ghosts when he was met by an empty stretch of hall.

The wait in the bathroom for Nathan and Chloe took longer than before due to the remnants of a nosebleed.

I didn’t want to get caught up in a mini interrogation again, so I opted to fast walk past David, “I know, I need to be outside, I’m going.”

‘Sorry, David.’

I just about made it outside without Principal Wells stopping me. Except the moment I put my hand on the door to push it open, he had stepped out of his office and given how we looked back between David and I...maybe I shouldn’t have been practically running for the door.

“Max, come back here.”

I debated for a moment if I should try and just book it out the doors. But the lingering pain from my headache made me decide against it.

“Sir, I need to go outside, my class-“

He held up a hand to stop me, “They can wait a few minutes, I’ve been told this has been a false alarm.”

‘That’s what you think.’

“You’re not in any danger.” He said, taking just a step closer.

‘Max, you potato. Tell him about Nathan!’

No surprise that he didn’t believe me the third time around, just more of ‘Nathan comes from a prestigious family blah blah blah’, ‘serious accusations, blah blah blah’.

But at least I got that out.

“But for the record I wasn’t running, I was walking. And the alarm tripped me out, it’s loud, it’s annoying- I don’t want to stick around and listen to it.” I gestured to the doors.

Wells crosses his arms and frowned, “I don’t appreciate the attitude, Miss Caufield.”

My response came out as a slight squeak, “What attitude? I’m not trying to give you an attitude! I just want to go outside with everyone else. I don’t feel well and that alarm isn’t helping-“

A wave of dizziness swept over me and what was supposed to be a simple step back, turned into me tripping over my own foot.

I caught the edge of the door, but it didn’t do much to stop my momentum as I stumbled back into the wall, nor did it stop my head from smacking into the wall as it finally stopped me.

I swear I felt it bounce.

‘Did I break something? I didn’t hear a crack. And nothing hurts.’

Wells had some something but I wasn’t paying attention, I was too focused on trying to tune out the fire alarm.

Why wasn’t it off yet?

Trying to stand was a mistake, the dizzy spell hadn’t left and I just ended up sliding down the wall.

And although I didn’t bang my head again, the back of it still made contact with the wall.

My vision flashed white for a moment, hands flying up on reflex and clutch at my aching head. But that made it worse and just resulted in another flash.

I forced my eyes open, ready to repeat myself to Principal Wells. Though the dizziness made it hard to focus. Everything was muted.

When I opened my mouth to speak, I immediately scrunched up my face in disgust, haven tasted copper.

‘You bit your tongue? Of course you did.’

I screwed my eyes shut and mentally kicked myself.

‘look what you did now, Max. Or...ok maybe it’s not entirely your fault but you don’t have time for this. You need to get to Chloe. If you just sit here she’ll have already driven off to no knows where.’

A sudden pressure against my nose make me open my eyes again. ‘What is it now?’

Mr. Jefferson half knelt beside me, a quick look down the bridge of my nose and I saw he was pinching my nose shut with tissues. Meanwhile his attention was elsewhere.

It sounded like he was yelling, glancing up to see Wells talking to him.

I held my breath for a moment and tried to focus on their speaking,

Jefferson motioned to me with his free hand, “You can’t be serious. Students don’t just collapse. What happened?”

Wells pinched the bridge of his nose out of what I guessed was annoyance, “How am I supposed to know what they get up to?”

He sighed, “Accidents happen.”

Jefferson scoffed at that, “An accident you didn’t bother to prevent.”

The principal threw up his hands, “And what would you have me do? I can’t predict when these things will happen anymore than I can control them.”

Jefferson’s voice lowered as he replied, “I don’t know, you could have gotten the nurse? For starters. I should not have been notified about this by a student.”

He shook his head, “She probably has a concussion. You need to get an ambulance here.”

This was getting tiresome, I had given up on trying to resist the hipster. I didn’t have enough energy to do more than turn my head from him.

When Wells spoke again, something sounded off.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit excessive?”

Jefferson gritted his teeth, “A potential concussion isn’t ‘a bit excessive’. What were you planning on doing? Giving her an aspirin and sending her back to her dorm?”

Closing my eyes, I expected them to continue on arguing. But they didn’t, In fact they suddenly stopped.

A hand on my shoulder prompted me to open my eyes again, though I did so tiredly.

Wells was walking back to his office, phone pressed to his ear.

But Jefferson stayed put. Though he did back up a little to give me some more space. “Try to keep your eyes open, Max. How do you feel?”

For a moment, I squinted in concentration. But that just made my headache worse, so I went with the easiest reply I could muster.

“Bad.”

‘Wow, such a detailed and helpful answer.’

He nodded once, “Alright, can you tell me what happened?”

My eyelids drooped, “I felt lightheaded and tripped over my own stupid feet.”

‘Why am I so tired? I guess I really did hurt myself.’

I let my eyes fully close as I finished, “And I cracked the back of my head against the fall like an idiot.”

Suddenly the tension left my muscles and I dragged against the wall, something stopped me from sliding face first onto the floor. Or someone in this case.

“Max? Max, you need to open your eyes.”

‘I don’t like this, I don’t like any of this. I don’t want to be anywhere near Jefferson now, I certainly don’t want to be touched. Even if he’s preventing me from eating dirt. I need to talk to Chloe! I...’

“Max? Do you hear me? You can’t fall asleep.”

Was that...genuine concern?

Anything else he said was abruptly cut off by a dull ringing in my ears, a high pitched sound that only seemed to increase in decibel until finally it got so high that I couldn’t hear it anymore.

For a moment, there was just...nothing. I couldn’t hear or feel anything. My vision remained dark.

A moment later that all changed, there was another bright light, but this time, it wasn’t a flash. But it was still bright, the next two things that I registered was that I was laying on something.

It wasn’t the linoleum floors of the school, it was...what was it?

A sudden and cold spray of water made me sit bolt upright and my eyes snapped open, only for me to throw up a hand to shield my eyes.

I excepted to be greeted by pain, more dizziness...

But instead I was met by a beach, a cloudless sky and the giant ball of fire that was the sun.

As I blinked away the spots, I tried to take in my surroundings.

First thing that I noticed, was...the sky. I hadn’t seen weather this clear since moving back to Arcadia. Sure there had been days with sun but nothing like this.

Second thing I noticed was that there were no poor whales washed up on the beach.

Finally, there were no people. While it wasn’t shocking, I was surprised that there wasn’t at least a couple people. Especially given how nice the weather was.

But now...

‘How did I get here?’

I couldn’t have rewound, could I?

No. No, that couldn’t be. I couldn’t even sit up straight and I didn’t have a picture of this. I would have remembered a photo like that.

With a sigh, I started to walk down the beach.

“Not going to get any answers if I just stand there.”

To be honest, I wish I had a watch.

I walked around the whole beach and even out into the water, but I found nothing. I debated for a moment if I should try to swim out but I wasn’t that strong of a swimmer.

Plus, if I got caught up in one of the waves...I might get crushed against those rocks.

Defeated, I sat down in the sand and grabbed a nearby stick, proceeding to doodle in the sand.

“I can’t believe there’s not even a trace of evidence that someone’s been here. Not even those annoying plastic rings from packs of soda. Though...that’s probably for the best. Nobody even bothers to cut them up before tossing them in the garbage. Stupid things getting caught on animals...”

A soft chuckle from beside me made me jump, I accidentally hurled the stick away in the process.

‘10/10 on distance.’

I immediately looked up to see who had laughed, but I wasn’t prepared for who looked back at me.

“Litter bugs definitely suck.”, William smiled, just as warm as ever.

“I didn’t mean to startle you, Max. You were quite engrossed with your artwork.”

‘That...that can’t- wait what?’

All I could do was gape and whisper back, “William?”

Taking a seat next to me, William gave me a gentle side hug then drew back to look me in the face.

“We have a lot to talk about Max.”


End file.
